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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25409056">Eyes that Burn The Same</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericsonclan/pseuds/ericsonclan'>ericsonclan</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>A Pirate's Life For Me AU [25]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action Dueling, Alternate Universe - Pirate, F/F, Gen, Panic Attacks</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:41:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,570</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25409056</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericsonclan/pseuds/ericsonclan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sophie decides to agree to some sparring matches when one of them brings up raw memories of the past.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Prisha/Violet (Walking Dead: Done Running), Sophie &amp; Violet (Walking Dead: Done Running)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>A Pirate's Life For Me AU [25]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1683673</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>(By Linnea)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>Peeling potatoes is definitely more tiring than I thought it would be,</em> Sophie thought as she stretched her arms above her head. It was nice to spend some time with Omar. He was generally pretty quiet which may annoy some but for Sophie it was relaxing. Spending some time just focusing on a task and clearing her mind was good for her.</p><p>She definitely had enough to think about lately. Her mind was still trying to process all that the street rats had told her and the fact that without even realizing it she had lost eight years. Luckily she had some free time before dinner so she headed above deck to see if she could find Tenn. When she arrived on deck it was clear that he wasn’t there. Sophie let out a sad sigh and moved over to lean her back against the mast. Maybe it was good to have some alone time and give the others a break from her constant hovering. </p><p>She looked around the ship. It was a nice ship, not originally built for battle by the looks of it. The cannons on deck were clearly not built with the ship but rather forced into spots for the inevitable battles that came from being a pirate. It seemed more along the lines of what a sea merchant might have. The lower decks had larger cargo holds than the ship she had been on too. </p><p>As she looked around, her eyes quickly caught sight of the ship’s dog. Sophie let out a sharp whistle, drawing the dog’s attention. As it made its way over, Sophie gently reached out her hand, letting the dog get her scent before petting it. It seemed pretty friendly, instantly lifting up its head to receive more pets when it had taken in her scent. The pitbull panted and smiled with wide eyes while Sophie scratched its ears. </p><p>“I see you’re getting along with Rosie.” A voice broke Sophie's attention away from the dog. She looked up to see Marlon as he strolled over to her. “She’s a real sweetheart once you get to know her. I’m Marlon by the way. Don’t know if you remember. We’ve only talked once or twice.” He gave a genuinely friendly smile that surprised Sophie.</p><p>“I remember.” Sophie continued to pet Rosie as she looked at Marlon. “She’s a good dog.”</p><p>“She sure is.” Marlon smiled down at the dog before kneeling down to pet her, laughing when Rosie started licking his face. “Oh. That reminds me, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.” Marlon stopped showering Rosie with love to turn his eyes upwards to Sophie.</p><p>Sophie’s body immediately tensed at his statement. It seemed like everyone had endless questions for her. “And what would that be?” </p><p>“I wanna spar against you. I know you’ve only been on board for a little while, but I wanna see what sort of skills you bring to the table.” </p><p>Sophie’s eyes widened in surprise, her body relaxing slightly. She had figured his question would be something heavy and more complicated than a simple request for a duel. She let out a small sigh of relief. “Sure. I’ll spar you.”</p><p>Marlon’s eyes seemed to light up with excitement at her acceptance.</p><p>After a few minutes the area had been cleared and  was set up for the sparring session. Sophie glanced down at her wooden sword, spinning it in her hand, realizing that it was a lighter sword. <em>They don’t use steel for practice.</em></p><p>“Is something wrong?” Marlon glanced over with a confused look on his face. “It’s not too damaged, is it?”</p><p>“No.” Sophie answered as she moved the sword in her hand. “I’m just used to fighting with two. Would it be okay if I had another sword?”</p><p>“No problem.” Marlon disappeared into a room before returning with a second sword and a barrel of what looked to be the practice weapons. Marlon tossed the sword towards Sophie who caught it with ease. “You ready?” Marlon slowly moved  into his fighting stance, pointing his sword towards her. </p><p>Sophie got into her fighting stance, placing most of her weight on her back leg while holding the two swords near her sides. She simply nodded, signaling the beginning of the match. </p><p>The two ran towards each other, wood clashing with a loud thunk as their swords connected. Marlon was a pretty good fighter, having a fairly good balance between offense and defense. Never shying away from a chance to attack but not naive enough to forego defense when the situation called for it. </p><p>Sophie struggled a bit at first to block his attacks. After all, it had been several years since she held a blade. She decided the best chance she had to win was to increase the speed of her attacks, using one of her blades to attack his left shoulder while using the other to lunge at his right side. <br/>He was able to block the first onset of attacks, throwing in a few jabs of his own, some of which hit their target. But as her attack’s speed increased he slowly started to panic, causing his defense to wither away until Sophie found an opening and disarmed him. Marlon’s wooden sword flew through the air before landing loudly onto the deck.</p><p>Both gasped for air, their chests heaving with exertion.</p><p>“Wow.” Marlon took a deep breath in. “You’re pretty good.” A happy smile appeared on his lips.</p><p>Sophie smiled back at him, not used to any sort of praise.“You’re pretty impressive yourself.” </p><p>“Sophie!” </p><p>Sophie’s eyes shot up to see one of the older street rats stomping over. “What the hell!” Mitch huffed, his shoulders tense. “You didn’t tell me you were finally up for sparring. You have to duel me!” </p><p>“It just sort of happened, Mitch,” Sophie gave a half-hearted apologetic look. “But fine, I’ll spar with you too.”</p><p>Mitch gave a huge smile, sprinting over to the barrel and leaning in to it to  grab one of the wooden daggers. Spinning it in his hand, he began maneuvering the blade through his fingers. Sophie looked on at her childhood friend as he did some of his knife tricks. <em>Typical Mitch.</em>  <br/>Mitch quickly crouched, holding the blade in his right hand, ready to fight. As soon as Sophie entered her stance he leaned forward, launching off his right foot and hitting her with a barrage of attacks. </p><p>Luckily she had warmed up with Marlon. Her muscle memory kicked in and she was able to dodge and block most of Mitch’s relentless attacks. Mitch swung around the dagger, dancing with quick jabs here and there, constantly moving around Sophie who waited patiently for her opening. The longer the battle drew on, the more cocky Mitch got, throwing in a trick in front of each attack. </p><p>Suddenly he ran behind Sophie, sliding hard across the deck to strike at her back only for her left sword to block it, protecting her back and leaving her right sword free to attack. Sophie looked back with a confident smile towards Mitch then proceeded to immediately hit her hilt against Mitch’s side which caused him to stagger back, cursing furiously. There was the opening she was looking for. Using her right sword, Sophie clashed her sword against Mitch’s dagger before slashing her other sword against it on the opposite side. The two swords locked against the dagger and with a quick twist Mitch’s dagger had fallen to the ground. Before he could even hope to grab his weapon, a wooden sword was at his throat.</p><p>“I win.” Sophie looked at Mitch with a smug smirk.</p><p>Mitch grumbled, refusing to take Sophie’s hand when she offered it, and sulked away. However, it wasn’t before declaring that next time he would not only <br/>win but totally kick her ass.</p><p>Sophie let out a small laugh as she caught her breath. Her hands were clutching her knees. It felt amazing to fight again. The rush of adrenaline, the sweat on her brow, the confidence that swirled within her. There was nothing like it. It also helped Sophie gauge the crew’s skill to see just how strong the Ericson Pirates really were. </p><p>Her eyes scanned the deck, slowly looking around for another person to challenge, hoping to find one more opponent before dinner. Her eyes quickly found Violet who was busy talking with Prisha. The two seemed completely lost in their conversation, both of them smiling at each other while they talked.</p><p>“Hey, Vi!” Sophie walked forward, standing in front of the pair. Violet glanced up at the familiar voice. While Violet seemed happy to see Sophie, Prisha was another story. Her body language instantly changed, becoming more tense and suspicious of the redhead. Her eyes locked onto Sophie, watching her every movement. </p><p>Sophie tried to ignore the tension, focusing on Violet instead. “Care for a match?</p><p>Violet sighed before standing up. “Sure. But I’m pretty shit at fighting.” </p><p>“Come on. The only thing I bet that’s full of shit is that sentence.” Sophie remarked with a smile. A small part of her realized how stupid that sentence had sounded, but she didn’t care. Sophie watched as Violet moved past her and went over to the pile of practice weapons. </p><p>Violet grabbed a small wooden dagger which she simply placed in her sheath before turning her attention back to Sophie. </p><p>Sophie found it odd that Violet had tucked the sword away but decided not to think too much of it. </p><p>“Alright. You ready?” Violet looked up at her friend.</p><p>“Yes.” Sophie got into her fighting stance once more. She felt a slight level of tension to this battle. Prisha’s eyes seemed to be focused on the sparring match but even more so on Sophie.</p><p>Violet slowly placed her left foot in front of her and her right foot slightly back as she raised up her fists. <br/>Sophie’s face twisted in confusion. <em>Is she going to fight with her fists?</em></p><p>Before she had time to ask, Violet had already dashed forward, closing the distance between them in mere seconds. Sophie felt her heart tighten from surprise. <em>Holy shit! How is she this fast?!?</em> On the streets Violet was one of the faster kids, but this was on a whole other level. Sophie could barely backstep before Violet’s first hit connected. Her fist dug into Sophie’s stomach with a sickening thud as Sophie gasped for air. Before she could fully process it, Violet had already landed her second attack, kicking harshly against Sophie's leg and causing her to collapse on her knees. </p><p><em>This should do it!</em> Violet rushed towards the side, turning sharply on her heel, putting all of her weight into her elbow, swinging towards Sophie’s hands in hopes of disarming her. Her attack was suddenly stopped by Sophie’s blades. </p><p>Sophie looked up, glaring at Violet. Her face was twisted in anger as she struggled to maintain her block on Violet’s attack. A shiver ran up Violet’s spine. Sophie’s eyes burned with a similar fire to Minnie’s. Violet’s concentration disappeared, her feet stumbling underneath her as she took a few shaky steps back before Sophie jumped up and with one hit knocked Violet down. </p><p>Sophie hovered above Violet with a proud smile, her eyes still holding a look that was far too similar to Minnie’s when she pointed her sword towards Violet. “I guess I win.” Sophie coughed, still feeling Violet’s fist hit in her gut. Sophie gave a kind smile as she reached out a hand towards Violet.</p><p>“I told you my fighting was shit.” Violet mumbled. Her hand locked around Sophie’s accepting the help. </p><p>“Please, Vi. A second quicker and you would’ve won the match.”</p><p>Violet stood up shakily. </p><p>Sophie looked at Violet who wouldn’t meet her gaze, focusing on the deck instead. She paused for a moment, feeling Violet’s hand trembling in hers. </p><p>Sophie’s eyes softened, studying her friend’s hand carefully. </p><p>Violet didn’t respond though, pulling her hand sharply from her friend’s grasp. She turned away, walking towards the lower decks. A tense aura consumed the air around her. </p><p>Prisha glared at Sophie, her eyes held such a strong level of distrust in them. Prisha’s expression softened with concern as she looked back in Violet's direction. Without a word she followed Violet down below decks, leaving Sophie alone.</p><p>Sophie stood there, reflecting on the fight. It was clear that something had shook Violet. A sickening feeling entered Sophie’s stomach. She had a good idea of what it may be.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Weight of A Mirror Image</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Violet and Sophie consider the implications of what just happened for their friendship.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>(By Linnea)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>Fuck,</em> Violet stumbled down the steps to the lower decks, grasping onto the side while her mind spun. <em>Calm down.</em> Violet felt her feet shaking under her. She glared at them with annoyance as she forced them to keep moving to the sleeping quarters. Sophie’s eyes consumed her mind; she couldn’t get the image out of her head. The anger in them dragged her back to that day a year prior. </p><p>It felt like she was back in that moment, the feeling of Minnie’s arms on her throat, the hellish flames that consumed her flesh. Violet fell into her hammock with a gasp. Her throat felt dry and the scars on her eyes burned. Irritated and itchy unlike anything that she had felt in months. Violet tried to calm her heart rate down, but no matter what she did nothing seemed to help. Curling into herself, she hoped the pressure would relieve whatever was happening here. </p><p><em>Sophie isn’t Minnie. It’s not the same,</em> Violet tried to convince herself. </p><p>She was so caught up in her own head that when Prisha entered the room Violet hadn’t even noticed. </p><p>“Vi,” Prisha placed her hand on Violet’s back, causing her to flinch and roll over. Her eyes widened when she saw Prisha.</p><p> </p><p>“Prisha,” Violet whispered. Her eye winced from the irritation it was experiencing.</p><p>Prisha got up into the hammock without a word and gently started to rub the side of Violet’s arm. Violet’s body was trembling while Violet closed her eyes, trying to force these emotions away from herself. The two lay in silence while Prisha kept caressing the side of Violet’s arm before wrapping her own arm around Violet. Violet’s hand reached up and grabbed onto Prisha’s arm, still trembling. It took some time before Violet’s shaking stopped. </p><p>“I hate it,” Violet mumbled, her face turned away from Prisha. “Reacting this strongly to a fucking look from Sophie,” </p><p>“It makes sense considering she looks just like Minerva,” Prisha whispered, her hand intertwined with Violet’s. </p><p>“But she’s not Minnie, and... shit,” Violet’s voice faded out. It wasn’t fair to hold it against her friend. </p><p>“If it makes you too overwhelmed you can always take some more space from her,” Prisha offered with a gentle voice. Underneath it though Violet could feel Prisha’s distrust of Sophie bleeding through. </p><p>Violet shook her head and turned to face her lover. “No, she’s my friend. I don’t want to lose that for something that isn’t her fault,”</p><p>Prisha studied Violet’s eye for a moment before nodding. “Alright, I just want to make sure you’re okay,” Prisha reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind Violet’s ear. </p><p>“I know,” Violet looked at Prisha for a second then glanced away. </p><p>Prisha watched her with curiosity, wondering what was going on in her mind. </p><p>“I need to do something, “ Violet leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on Prisha’s lips before getting out of the hammock. Without giving Prisha time to react, Violet was already on her way to the upper deck. </p><p>When she had reached the top she looked around the deck, her eye searching for a particular crew member. It was only when she looked up that she found who she was looking for. At least that’s what she hoped. There on one of the mast’s beams was a tall red blob that she bet was Sophie. She had no idea what she was going to say when she went up there to talk to her friend. All she knew is that it felt like the right thing to do. Violet moved to the jettisoning contraption by the mast, wrapping her arm securely around it before kicking the lever and shooting herself up into the air. </p><p>Sophie looked up at the sky, mentally kicking herself for what she had done. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had thrown Violet off and shook her. <em>I should’ve never asked for the match.</em> Sophie clutched her head in her hands, her fingers running through her hair. No matter what she did it seemed she always screwed it up. If she kept going at this pace, the whole crew would want her gone. Sophie looked down at her legs that dangled from the beam, her eyes wandering past that to some of the crew members who were busy talking below. </p><p>She really wanted to check on Violet and apologize, but she knew that if she made her way down there she’d sooner ended up in a fight with Prisha than any sort of reconciliation. The look in Prisha’s eyes made it clear how much she had messed up. Still, she couldn’t hang out here all day. There were plenty of things to do around the ship and maybe that could help in some way. </p><p>Suddenly a loud whooshing sound came from behind her. Glancing back, Sophie noticed Violet walking over towards her as she tried to maintain her balance. </p><p>“Violet!” Sophie scrambled up to her feet and went over to try and help only to freeze for a moment, worried that her involvement might make it worse. </p><p>Violet got over with ease, most likely due to muscle memory. </p><p>Sophie sat back down and Violet soon sat beside her. The two remained quiet for a few minutes, Violet’s gaze focused on her feet that lazily kicked back and forth while Sophie put all off her focus on the sky, not wanting to look over at her friend and cause more problems. But it seemed like the silence only made things more awkward; the air around them felt tense and heavy. Someone had to be the first to break it. </p><p>“It was my face, wasn’t it?” Sophie’s statement made Violet look up with wide eyes before returning her gaze back to her feet. </p><p>“Yeah,” Violet mumbled.</p><p>Sophie took a deep breath that ended shakily. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean for that match to bring up raw memories of… <em>that</em> day,” Sophie felt tears start to escape her eyes. “If it makes it easier for you, I can keep my distance,”</p><p>“Don’t be an idiot,” Violet snapped. “Why the fuck would I want that?” </p><p>“Because I remind you of Minnie and all this is my fault-” Sophie’s sentence was suddenly cut off when she was met with the intensity of Violet’s stare. </p><p>“I’m not gonna push you away after you were gone for nearly a decade,” Violet grumbled, placing her chin on her knee while her other leg kicked in the air. “We’ll just have to find a way around all this shit,”</p><p>Sophie’s eyes grew large at Violet’s statement before softening as a bright smile overtook her face. “Okay, just tell me and I’ll work to make sure we never run into this problem again,” Sophie paused, realizing the impossibility of her suggestion. There was no way she could change her face and even with her best attempts she was sure to still remind Vi and the others of Minnie every now and then. “I’ll work to make sure we run into the problem less!” Sophie pounded her hand against her heart and flashed a confident smile over at Violet which faltered when she worried if it would trigger her friend in some way.</p><p>But Violet didn’t seem bothered by it. Instead a small smile played on her lips. </p><p>“So...” Sophie kicked her legs energetically, “Got any ideas on how to make it less likely that I trigger you? Oh! Besides dueling and looking pissed off?”</p><p>Violet shook her head. “No fucking clue,” She looked over at Sophie and the two of them started to lightly laugh. </p><p>“Well, I’m sure we’ll find a way, in fact…” Sophie inhaled, sucking back all her saliva before spitting it onto the palm of her hand, “Let’s make it a street rat promise!”</p><p>Violet looked at Sophie’s extended hand then spit into her own hand. The two shook hands before Sophie looked down at the deck and noticed that Prisha had appeared above decks. “We should probably head down. I promised Marlon and Willy I’d help them get those barnacles off the starboard side of Ol’ Kickass,” </p><p>“Okay,” Violet moved her hand to adjust her eyepatch before grabbing the rope and sliding down to the deck. </p><p>Sophie looked down at Violet with a short smile. She hadn’t screwed it up too badly. <em>I can still move forward.</em> Sophie started to climb down the mast.<em> Just gotta be careful about my face.</em> </p><p>Sophie landed hard on her feet and was greeted by Willy who was overly excited for ‘barnacle popping’ as he called it while Garbage clutched desperately onto his back.</p><p>“Wait up, Willy!” Marlon ran forward with the tools and buckets. “Hey, Sophie, ready to get rid of some barnacles?” </p><p>Sophie looked past Marlon to Violet who was holding Prisha’s hand as they walked away. </p><p>“Yeah,” Sophie gave a small smile. “Let’s pop some barnacles,”</p>
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